Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate and wildfire, featuring summer-drought-tolerant plants with hard sclerophyllous evergreen leaves, as contrasted with the associated soft-leaved, drought-deciduous, scrub community of coastal sage scrub, found below the chaparral biome. Chaparral covers 5% of the state of California, and associated Mediterranean shrubland an additional 3.5%. The name comes from the Spanish word for scrub oak, chaparro.
Eucalyptus is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including Corymbia, they are commonly known as eucalypts. Plants in the genus Eucalyptus have bark that is either smooth, fibrous, hard or stringy, leaves with oil glands, and sepals and petals that are fused to form a "cap" or operculum over the stamens. The fruit is a woody capsule commonly referred to as a "gumnut".
A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. The crown contains buds from which new stems may sprout, as well as stores of starch that can support a period of growth in the absence of photosynthesis. The term "lignotuber" was coined in 1924 by Australian botanist Leslie R. Kerr.
Artemisia tridentata, commonly called big sagebrush, Great Basin sagebrush or (locally) simply sagebrush, is an aromatic shrub from the family Asteraceae, which grows in arid and semi-arid conditions, throughout a range of cold desert, steppe, and mountain habitats in the Intermountain West of North America. The vernacular name "sagebrush" is also used for several related members of the genus Artemisia, such as California sagebrush.
The ecology of California can be understood by dividing the state into a number of ecoregions, which contain distinct ecological communities of plants and animals in a contiguous region. The ecoregions of California can be grouped into four major groups: desert ecoregions, Mediterranean ecoregions, forested mountains, and coastal forests.
Helianthus is a genus of plants comprising about 70 species. Except for three species in South America, all Helianthus species are native to North America and Central America. The common names "sunflower" and "common sunflower" typically refer to the popular annual species Helianthus annuus, whose round flower heads in combination with the ligules look like the sun. This and other species, notably Jerusalem artichoke, are cultivated in temperate regions and some tropical regions as food crops for humans, cattle, and poultry, and as ornamental plants. The species H. annuus typically grows during the summer and into early fall, with the peak growth season being mid-summer.
Peter Hamilton Raven is an American botanist and environmentalist, notable as the longtime director, now President Emeritus, of the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. They are considered to be a distinctive type of wetland usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe development of natal amphibian and insect species unable to withstand competition or predation by fish. Certain tropical fish lineages have however adapted to this habitat specifically.
Native plants are plants indigenous to a given area in geologic time. This includes plants that have developed, occur naturally, or existed for many years in an area.
Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is within the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome.
The California Native Plant Society (CNPS) is a California environmental non-profit organization that seeks to increase understanding of California's native flora and to preserve it for future generations. The mission of CNPS is to conserve California native plants and their natural habitats, and increase understanding, appreciation, and horticultural use of native plants throughout the entire state and California Floristic Province.
Willis Linn Jepson is known as one of the most important and most distinguished early California botanists. He graduated from the University of California in 1889, and became a UC professor in botany, a botanical writer, and a conservationist.
The California Floristic Province (CFP) is a floristic province with a Mediterranean-type climate located on the Pacific Coast of North America with a distinctive flora similar to other regions with a winter rainfall and summer drought climate like the Mediterranean Basin. This biodiversity hotspot is known for being the home of the Sierran giant sequoia tree and its close relative the coast redwood. In 1996, the Province was designated as a biodiversity hotspot allowing it to join ranks among 33 other areas in the world with many endemic species. To be named a biodiversity hotspot, an area has to contain species and plant life that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The California Floristic Province is home to over 3,000 species of vascular plants, 60% of which are endemic to the province.
The Boggs Lake Ecological Reserve is a nature reserve in Lake County, California. The land area is about one quarter of a square mile and contains a large vernal pool as well as endangered plants such as the Boggs Lake hedge-hyssop.
Jepsonia heterandra is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the saxifrage family known by the common name foothill jepsonia. It is endemic to the foothills of the central section of the Sierra Nevada in California, where it grows in woodland and forest. This is a small perennial plant growing two or three leaves from a branching caudex. The flat, green leaves are round or kidney-shaped with frilly lobes along the edges. Flowering occurs in fall. The plant produces an inflorescence of several pinkish flowers on a tall peduncle. The fruit is a red-striped green or pink capsule.
Jepsonia malvifolia is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the saxifrage family known by the common name island jepsonia. It is found only on the Channel Islands of California and Guadalupe Island off Baja California. It grows in exposed rock and clay soils on the chaparral and scrub slopes of the islands. This is a small perennial herb producing two or three leaves from a flat caudex. The green leaves are round or kidney-shaped and edged with ruffled lobes. The plant flowers in fall, producing an inflorescence on a tall peduncle. The tiny flowers have red-veined white, yellowish, or pinkish petals. The fruit is a tan-striped greenish capsule.
Pine Hill Ecological Reserve is a nature reserve of 403 acres (1.63 km2) located due east of Folsom Lake in the Sierra Nevada foothills, in El Dorado County, California. The reserve was established in 1979, and is managed by the California Department of Fish and Game.
A plant community is a collection or association of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The components of each plant community are influenced by soil type, topography, climate and human disturbance. In many cases there are several soil types within a given plant community.
Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve is a unit of the University of California Natural Reserve System and is administered by the University of California, Davis. It is within the Blue Ridge Berryessa Natural Area, in the Northern Inner California Coast Ranges.
